Pick the WINNER

Alexei Yagudin to WIN

Daisuke Takahashi to WIN

This summer, a dozen elite skaters entered their most testing competition yet, trying to outwit, outplay, and outlast each other in the hearts and minds of FSU. Ten have been voted out so far, including, most recently, Stéphane Lambiel, leaving us with Alexei Yagudin, who has dominated all the challenges so far, and outsider Daisuke Takahashi.

Two skaters remain. Who should win?

The original contestants were the last twelve men to win a World or Olympic title. The eliminaees are:

... will be put in the stocks, given remedial reading comprehension lessons and forced to watch a loop of selected Free Skate programs by Wolfgang Schwarz, Ondrej Nepela, Elvis Stojko, and Evan Lysacek. Since voting is anonymous, there will not be any re-tallying of votes based on claims of having voted for the wrong person.

Dai could sweep the next two seasons- which seems unlikely in the extreme - and he still won't have a record as good as Yagudin's, despite having quite a few more season to compete in. He had one season when he was considered the man to beat, and it ended with him Zayaking himself off the World podium.

I like Dai, he's a great skater, loved his Worlds winning performances and his programs this past season. But Yags is in a league of his own here. And while his skating isn't IJS friendly (why should it be?), he was an amazing 6.0 skater.

Dai could sweep the next two seasons- which seems unlikely in the extreme - and he still won't have a record as good as Yagudin's, despite having quite a few more season to compete in. He had one season when he was considered the man to beat, and it ended with him Zayaking himself off the World podium.

I like Dai, he's a great skater, loved his Worlds winning performances and his programs this past season. But Yags is in a league of his own here. And while his skating isn't IJS friendly (why should it be?), he was an amazing 6.0 skater.

Click to expand...

Yes, and those were diff'rent times!

It's been pointed out ad nauseam that record is not the criteria here, so I'm going with personal taste and artistic abilities. Also Daisuke moves me to tears while Yags leaves me cold as a stone. Go figure!